Getting Started

Getting started can be a difficult thing to do, especially when your work is tangential to an effort like this. Or when your puppy is politely asking to go outside and you feel like maybe you should keep going further till she’s more insistent, but knowing that’s the wrong answer.

So you take a break, let her out and come back to soldier on. It’s a promise you made to yourself, one you’ve been trying to make for weeks now. Thinking you’d get started when things were a little more “polished” or “better integrated”, but knowing it’s a “never beginning curse” you must break.

In thinking about how to get started I was reminded of installing a new garage door and opener with my father. He’s very handy and had done one before but it was years ago. So it was like starting from scratch, with a really inspired helped.

Yet regardless of how many times you may or may not have done something similar, I imagine every time you first look at the directions you have the same reaction; A gut wrenching “this is too complex” moment where you’re not sure if the undertaking is worth the effort.

It’s much like starting a blog, a presence or project like this one, only it’s not the complexity that’s the most intimidating, but the consistency. However, just as with the garage, you look closely at the instructions, only as far as you need to make the next step, keep screwing things together, latching parts on, and making alignments.

It’s not slow and steady that wins the race, it’s just steady.

For this project, there is no race and no “final assembly” picture either. Yet the process is the same, complicated worthwhile things are made from simple tasks strung together, not left incomplete.

– j

About jay

I'm trying to build something interactive where I can learn from others and hopefully share useful knowledge too.
thecapacity@gmail.com